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"Following extensive consultation and engagement with a wide range of stakeholders, our plans put passengers first whilst respecting and retaining the station's Victorian features, including the iconic trainshed and the Great Eastern Hotel."

City officials said in an interview and in written plans shared with AP that the $11 million grant will fund the creation of an “interpretive center” in 12,300 square feet of space in the first floor of the sleek, glassy trainshed of historic Main Street Station, a landmark visible to motorists cutting through the city on Interstate 95.

Serving St. Petersburg since 1870, the year before the Paris Commune, the station was described by Wilson as “a shabby stucco station, rubber-gray and tarnished pink, with a long trainshed held up by slim columns that branch where they meet the roof.”

In the rainburst that accompanied it, the folk upon the dock sought shelter in the trainshed, and there they were trapped.

It was a hilarious party that alighted from the taxicabs in the station and made its way to the proper part of the trainshed.